Illustrating the Two of Cups
The meaning of the Two of Cups
The Two of Cups is a sweet card meaning friendship, partnership, and duos of all kinds.
IKEA furniture comes with cute illustrated assembly manuals. Some larger pieces of furniture have a diagram that my brother named “It is better to be two people.”
IKEA furniture comes with assembly manuals that include this cute message: don’t try to do this alone.
So, getting the Two of Cups in a tarot reading may mean:
Being in love
Having a best friend
Being one-half of a dynamic duo
With this in mind, let’s get into how and why I illustrated this card the way I did.
HINT: Scroll to the end of this post to see the final card design!
Examples from other tarot artists
Traditionally, this card is illustrated with a pair of lovers sharing a glass of wine together.
Here are some examples of the Two of Cups card from various tarot decks I use.
Two of Cups cards from my collection of tarot decks; see footnotes for artist credits.
Broader meaning
Two of Cups is often said to be all about romantic love, but I like to think of it broadly, including all the different ways that love with another person can enrich our lives.
I wanted to illustrate this card without people in it. I also wanted to show how two can be better than one. I wanted to show how life can be dull and gray without a friend. Before the liquid pours into the two cups, the illustration is in only gray tones. After mixing in the cups, that which flows out from the cups is brighter, more colorful, and has energy and vibrance.
My sketch of the Two of Cups tarot card.
Procreate on iPad with Apple Pencil.
How I made this card
This illustration includes hand-drawn linework I drew by hand in Procreate, based on my original sketch above. I printed the linework on watercolor paper, then used liquid watercolor paints to fill in the colors. I then scanned it, edited in Photoshop, and added my original Roman numeral to the final illustration.
See more about my tarot art illustration process here.
This card is mostly watercolor, and very little drawing. Here is the drawing I created of the two cups, which I then painted by hand.
Line drawing I created for my illustration of the Two of Cups card. Procreate on iPad with Apple Pencil.
The final illustration
What do you think? Leave me a comment below! I love to hear from you.
The Two of Cups card illustration from my forthcoming Tarot of These Times deck, anticipated 2026.
© Registered copyright Molly Chidsey, all rights reserved.
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Footnotes
Materials and technique notes from this post
Blick Hot Press 100% cotton watercolor paper; EcoLine liquid watercolor paint and brush pens; Winsor & Newton masking fluid. I use an Epson Workforce Pro printer to print my drawings onto watercolor paper, using their water-resistant Durabrite ink.
Linework is drawn by hand with Apple Pencil on iPad Pro using Procreate app, and added as image layers on top of scanned painting using Photoshop.
Roman numerals and all calligraphy were drawn by hand using Procreate, Apple Pencil and iPad Pro.
Artists of other tarot cards featured in this post
Clockwise from top left: Rider-Waite Tarot, illustrated by Pamela Coleman Smith; Modern Witch Tarot Deck by Lisa Sterle; The Wild Unknown Tarot by Kim Krans; The Gentle Tarot by Mari in the Sky; Rainbow Heart Tarot by Rachel Rosenkoetter; and The Reclaimed Tarot, ReClaim it! PDX, collage by various local artists.
Learn about tarot
(1) Want to learn more about tarot? I highly recommend the book Modern Tarot: Connecting with Your Higher Self through the Wisdom of the Cards by Michelle Tea.
A note about Ai and this project
I do not use Ai (artificial intelligence) to write any of the content for this blog, my other blog Behind the Scenes, or this website.
